Most start-ups hire a legal professional rather than a team, because of obvious reasons. However, there are a number of things you need to keep in mind, before you get them on board.
Great businesses are built more on the working of ideas than the building of ideas. When you start a company you want to surround yourself with people who work smart.
Quite evidently, you wouldn’t want to get stuck when it comes to legal matters regarding your start-up. So getting the right legal team or professional is as important as getting the core team on board. Most start-ups hire a legal professional rather than a team, because of obvious reasons. However, there are a number of things you need to keep in mind, before you get them on board.
1. Salary and standard
A highly effective and efficient lawyer will definitely cost you more than a less efficient lawyer. Being a start-up you can’t really afford to spend much on trivial things. Yet you need some really good advice when it comes to growth of your company. Check on the hourly or weekly consultants if your preferred lawyer does not suit your budget. See how long and how practical is your legal consultant by trying on a dummy case. After all, you would not want unnecessary expenditures during the early phase.
2. Experience
Just like while creating your business plan one of your first step was a frank assessment of your knowledge and skills, while getting a legal professional on board, assess whether the candidate is well experienced or moderately experienced in corporate legal matters. Whether a fresher who just passed out of law school or a ten year experience individual, a business lawyer must always have an eclectic background. He/she must have an understanding of the business strategy to mitigate risk intelligently and always have a least-expenditure, high-profit perspective.
3. Network
It is always great to have people who were deeply rooted in their industry, onboard. The bigger is their network, more will be your company’s visibility and more will company prosper. Lawyers with good connections support growth and inspire the true spirit of entrepreneurship.
4. Team or Individual player
The legal business works equally good in both the ways. Whether it’s a legal team working on a particular project or just an individual with good experience, they are equally wanted in all corporate and government organizations. However, hiring a whole lot of legal advisors would be an unnecessary expenditure for you. So before you go for a team, check whether the best of the lot is ready to work for you on a time-basis.
5. Accessibility/Availability
If a friend or peer of yours has agreed to work for you, hiring them on a daily basis might no be a smart move. Because you have just set up your company, it’s obvious that you won’t be working within fixed timings. So hiring a lawyer that is committed to you or your company as much as you and the rest of the team is, is very important.
Valid legal matters will arise throughout the life of your business, even when it’s well established in countries other than yours. Legal advisors won’t just be your aid when it comes to matters concerning law, but will also work for growth and risk management of your company.
